I have the Sharp from last years BF deal and the tv is excellent. Sharp has moved away from competeing heavily in the TV market but the products are still great in my opinion.

As of right now they are focusing on smartphone screens and they have nearly cornered the market on the new cutting edge 1080p screens that HTC and others will be using. Sharp only has 1 competitor and they are going 50/50 in supplying the screens for the new "super smartphones" that will be released this year starting in Korea and Japan. (Basically any 1080p smartphone over the next year or two will have a Sharp screen. The screen is that good.)

They would have supplied the screens for the new Iphone 5 but the factory was 2-3 months behind starting up production due to the company focusing on rearranging their finances and paring down the TV production facilities. (They basically cut jobs and refitted one for making these new very high end smartphone screens.)

Edit: Also, ignore the bellyachers complaining about sound. They make it sound like it will be rocking laptop speakers. I have never encountered any tv that has horrible built in speakers. No TV speakers will ever match a soundbar or speaker system. The same people that bitch about TV speakers are the same ones that don't even use them in the first place. The Sharp BF deal had the same complaint about the speakers and the speakers were fine.

They would have supplied the screens for the new Iphone 5 but the factory was 2-3 months behind starting up production due to the company focusing on rearranging their finances and paring down the TV production facilities. (They basically cut jobs and refitted one for making these new very high end smartphone screens.)

Their situation was more dire than just re-arranging their finances. Supposedly without a quiet HUGE $2 Billion loan and/or investment they quietly received from Apple, who wants to use Sharp more as they move away from Samsung, Sharp would have gone under.

Their situation was more dire than just re-arranging their finances. Supposedly without a quiet HUGE $2 Billion loan and/or investment they quietly received from Apple, who wants to use Sharp more as they move away from Samsung, Sharp would have gone under.

Yes I know they were in danger of bankruptcy. They also did close down one of the plants and Apple bailing them out prior to bankruptcy does fall into the category of rearranging finances.

What I find odd is that products directly competing with the iPhone will be getting the new LCD screens first. Very odd in my opinion.

If you're Apple, you're in a tough spot. If they're going OEM whoever they choose will have other customers. Their thought is probably that at least Sharp isn't competing directly with them in phones like Samsung.

If you're Apple, you're in a tough spot. If they're going OEM whoever they choose will have other customers. Their thought is probably that at least Sharp isn't competing directly with them in phones like Samsung.

True. Plus it gives them a second screen supplier, so they don't get held over the coals and robbed. Almost seems like a backwards version of what Intel does with their kickback system of price discounts and stimulus fees for using their chips.

Just 3 years ago sharp was top tier along with Sony and Samsung for lcds. That has changed? I always liked sharp.

Economic collapse in the US that started 4 years ago and reverberated around the world cut their R&D budget and they had bet on the wrong things anyway. At the size Sharp is, just a few major mistakes can kill a company. Once money was tight, they stopped being a market player and became essentially a commodity producer. They can dig out, but they have a huge monkey on their back with billions in loans, secured by their factories, plus the 2+ billion shadow loan/investment from apple.

A local Target listed it as limited availability. I had an associate check on it last Monday. I swore their scanner said it was $349 They said they weren't sure where it was. Since it was crazy busy on Christmas Eve, I told them not to worry about it. I checked a few times to see if they put it out on the floor. It wasn't on the floor yesterday. I saw it today.

It is on clearance for $499.

I was surprised the box was fairly nondescript. Just a brown cardboard box with black printing. Anyone know if it came in a plain box or is that a replacement box of some sort?

I bought this Sharp tv to replace an old 37 inch 720p Philips lcd and now have repackaged it for return to Target. Picture quality was decent (no tint adjustment?) but the sound quality was brutal. As this was only for our small den, we had no desire to purchase a sound bar to resolve this issue. I will also add that this tv has a cheap feel overall. From the antiquated on screen menu layout and chintzy remote to the horrible sound quality, this is clearly an entry level tv. However, for roughly $335 plus tax after Red Card discount it's still a decent deal if you already own a sound bar. Regular price for this same tv at Best Buy is only $449 and last I checked they had it on sale for $399.

We ended up instead purchasing a Samsung 37" lcd from Best Buy in-store clearance for $300 after they threw in a $50 gift card. I was going to cancel the order because it was only available at a store that was an hour away. Called Best Buy customer service and they very kindly offered me the gift card when I enquired about any other available discounts.